Updated: September 25, 2020 8:03:09 am
A Covid hospital built by Tata Group in Kasaragod in Kerala. It was handed over to the state government on September 10.
While the country as a whole, and the five states with the highest number of cases, have been reporting a decline in the number of active cases of novel coronavirus infection in recent days, Kerala once lauded for its measures of effective containment has been among the big trouble spots in recent weeks.
With a daily growth rate of 3.38%, Kerala has been adding numbers at a faster rate than any other state except Chhattisgarh, which is growing slightly faster. The national growth rate happens to be just 1.63 percent per day at the moment, which means that Kerala is growing at more than double the national rate.
On Thursday, the state reported 6,324 new cases, the highest daily cases in the state so far. A day earlier, it had reported 5,376 cases, crossing the 5,000 mark for the first time. The state now has more than 1.54 lakh of confirmed cases, of which nearly 46,000 are active.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the situation at the state grave. “There is a sharp increase in the number of positive cases in many districts. We are going into a serious situation, ” he said.
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The CM also blamed the Opposition for carrying out protests without regard to the Covid-19 protocol: the Opposition UDF and BJP have been seeking the resignation of Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel in the gold smuggling case. “The infection is also spreading because of that. The battle against Covid-19 should not be seen as the victory of some people or the failure of others, ” he said.
While new recoveries have outpaced new cases for the past six days domestically, Kerala has seen more new cases than recoveries over the past weeks on a consistent basis. On Thursday, the state reported only 3,168 recoveries, which is half the positive cases for the day.
While nationally, the recovery rate is 81.55%, Kerala’s figure has dropped to 69.83%. Many states with a higher caseload than Kerala have fewer active cases.
Tamil Nadu has only 8% of its active cases and Karnataka 18%. Only Chhattisgarh (93,351 total cases) and J&K (67,510) have a higher proportion of active cases with 38% and 30%, respectively.
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Health economist and visiting professor at IIM Kozhikode Professor Rijo M John said Kerala is not testing enough, leading to cases going undetected. “While cases have been increasing, Kerala is not intensifying testing. Without further testing, we cannot even predict the peak of Covid-19 cases in the state, ” he said.
Dr. Fazal Ghafoor, a member of the expert committee that advises the government on the management of Covid-19, agreed on the need for further testing. However, he said that unlike other states that saw a surge in cases, in Kerala, the growth in cases has been steady. “This shows that we are fighting hard to delay the peak. Our health infrastructure is not yet under pressure. Although there are 45,919 active cases in
Kerala as on Thursday, only 97 are on ventilator support and 371 in ICU. It’s a welcome relief, ” he said.
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On Wednesday, the state government urged asymptomatic patients to isolate themselves at home under the guidance of healthcare workers.
On Thursday, the police registered a case against KM Abhijith, president of the congressional student union, Kerala Students’ Union, accused of taking a Covid test with a false name and ID. Abhijith, who tested positive on Wednesday, had been active in the recent protests.
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